Our Journey
by DaMidnighter
Summary: The journey was rough and difficult, but they would treasure all their memories of the time together. Collection of short stories.
1. At Heart

This is a collection of short stories of the Tales of Vesperia cast, their world, journey together and little moments of happiness or sadness. Small ideas that are too complicated for one picture yet too short for a "real" one-shot. Personally I love reading short fanfic collections, so I thought I'd stop abandoning these ideas and instead write them out.

If there's a pairing in the fic, I'll mention it in that chapter, otherwise there's none. Same goes for spoilers.

All characters and swords mentioned (c) Namco Bandai.

This one somewhat spoils stuff until you've landed on the Heracles.

* * *

"Here."  
_WHOOM THUNK_

"Huh? A sword?" Raven asked, looking at the weapon now stuck in the ground in front of him that Yuri had thrown.

"Yeah. I want to practice fighting against someone with a sword", Yuri explained. He had his Second Star in hand.

"…and what's old Raven got to do with it?"

"You're my sparring partner of course", the long-haired man answered, clearly having thought it was obvious. "Estelle's already too tired after today; I don't want her to overexert herself. She's improved, but she's still way below my level anyway, though, so it wouldn't be much use to me. You're the only other who can use swords."

"Karol sometimes uses swords."

Yuri snorted. "It's not the same. His fighting style's way different from regular fencing. C'mon, pick up the sword.

Raven still didn't think it was a good idea. He hadn't exactly expected to get into a fight when leaving camp when Yuri said he had something important. "Hey. I may carry a blade…" - he took out his knife - "but this ain't a sword. " He spun the small, agile weapon and sheathed it. "I ain't a swordsman but an archer."

Yuri wasn't convinced. "Old man, I've _seen_ you fight with a sword, and I want to try it again. Stop the denial and pick up the damn thing." He was starting to get upset. "I'm going to count from three and then I'll attack, you got the sword or not. Three…" Yuri started and took a stance.

Raven's eyes flew open. "Eeh?! What---" "Two…" "---ah, oi, wait-!" "One!" Yuri finished the count and dashed forward. He prepared a downward slash and upon reaching Raven he determinedly brought his weapon down.

_CLASH_

Raven blocked with the steel sword Yuri had thrown him. 'Ugh… good choice, I couldn't have blocked that with just my knife…' the older man thought, and noticed Yuri grinning mischievously. Raven moved his blade to his left just in time to block the youth's next blow.

Yuri kept on the offense, slashing and thrusting at his sparring companion. Raven blocked and evaded, and his moves started getting more subtle, flowing, natural. At times, it looked like he was dancing as he dodged a blow and prepared to block the next.

Almost instinctively, Raven then saw his chance and slashed at Yuri before he could think about it. Yuri's eyes widened in surprise, but he managed to stop the blow with his Second Star on the last second. The older man noticed how his fighter's instincts had taken over, and he drew back.

The men looked at each other for a while; neither was out of breath yet. Yuri smiled. "Why'd you stop? That was great", he asked.

"You crazy kid…" Raven sighed, and took a stance.

***

Later at their camp for the night, Karol noticed two familiar figures coming from a distance. He rose up from his seat on an old, dry, fallen tree and ran towards the men. "Yuri! Raven! Where have you… Ah! You're all battered! What happened?!" the guild leader shouted.

"Nah, nothing special. Yuri here just had to have his way again." They got close to the camp, and Raven scratched the back of his head. "Ahh I'm goin' to sleep. You kids come soon too", he said and headed to the men's tent. Karol and Yuri waved him off and went to the campfire, where Judith was keeping lookout. Yuri took Karol's tree seat and left the boy standing. "Where were you, Yuri?" Karol asked again, not satisfied with what Raven had said. "Sword practice".

Judith smiled, curious. "Sword practice with an archer?"

Yuri looked into the tents' direction. "With a swordsman at heart."


	2. Restless

"Restless" contains (possibly one-sided) Rita x Estelle, aaand minor spoilers till... hmm. Clearing Caer Bocram.

All characters and Aer Krene mentioned (c) Namco Bandai.

* * *

Rita woke up. Looking around, she noticed it was still dark. Waking up in the middle of the night… This wasn't like her. At home, she usually wouldn't even think of resting before she'd finished the formula she was working on, before clearing her thoughts, before reaching a conclusion in her current research. But the research on the Aer Krene wasn't going to be complete that soon; she had to rest during the long journey. But for Rita, it was hard to just take it easy, to sleep with so many unanswered questions. She couldn't remember when she had actually fallen asleep, just that it had been restless. She hadn't had a good night's rest for weeks. She was getting cranky. …even more so than usual. Rita sighed. She would have needed the sleep for her brain to get back to top condition.

Rita sat up. Her eyes were starting to get used to the dark, so she looked around in the large tent. Judith was sleeping on her left side, curled up inside her open sleeping bag. Rita thought she seemed so innocent compared to what she was like when she was awake. Rita snorted and turned to her right. And there was Estelle.

Estelle, such a sweet and delicate being… A naïve, lovable princess with a heart big enough to love the whole world. She looked as beautiful as usual… Rita couldn't stop looking at her companion. Her neatly cut pink hair framing her cute features, eyes usually so full of joy and curiosity now relaxed and her almost always smiling lips were even now contently curved upwards. Rita wondered what she was dreaming about.

Looking at Estelle, the mage somehow felt a little more at ease. The peaceful and gracious air the princess had about her attracted Rita somehow… Her mind was slightly at peace. 'Sleep…', she thought, and lad back down, planning on using the relaxing effect for her immediate needs.

The seconds and minutes passed, Rita didn't count. Her mind was right back at working on formulas, her desire for knowledge driving her tired brain to solve the mysteries she could not understand with her current level of information. The mage was starting to get desperate. Why was it so hard to just rest for a short while? Rita got up again and turned to Estelle again. She wished she could have shared some of that innocence…

Rita felt a sudden need wave over her. Estelle looked so… The mage wanted to get closer, feel her warmth and closeness… Realizing her own thoughts, Rita shook her head. What on earth was she thinking?! She wasn't one who appreciated touching, much less one to suddenly get that close to sleeping girls. She turned away from her friend and stared at the tent wall. That would be so… unlike her. And inappropriate. Friends wouldn't do that.

…or would they? Rita hadn't really had friends before, so the concept was a little vague to her. Friends were there to support each other, right? She needed the wonderful feeling Estelle gave her so bad… She was sure the other girl wouldn't mind helping her out. Rita kept on reassuring herself and laid back down, slowly and carefully moving her pillow and sleeping bag closer to the other girl. I could just as well have just rolled over to her while I was sleeping. It's not that unlikely, the mage thought. Right next to Estelle, she finally rested her head on her pillow and settled better in her sleeping bag. Estelle was so close… Rita watched the princess softly breathe in and out again and again. The mage felt her eyelids getting heavy, her mind letting go of the incomplete formulas, all her stress fading away… As her consciousness began to fade, she subconsciously moved even closer, and finally fell to a deep, relaxed sleep, cuddled right into her pink-haired goddess.


	3. Wink, wink

A little Rita x Estelle fluff, somewhat minor spoilers until clearing Caer Bocram.

I don't know if the characters actually can wink or not, apart from Raven. His Crisis Rain -Mystic Arte's cut-in has him winking. w

Super short paragraphs due to a request. I'm just used to writing one paragraph and starting a new one when a pause just comes naturally. That's the way I was taught to write, anyway...

* * *

A sudden noise from a bush nearby caused Rita to snap back to reality.

Right as she turned to see the cause, Repede and Karol dashed from the thicket, Karol laughing. Repede did not look unhappy either, as far as Rita could tell from a mutt, anyway.

The two ran off and the mage shook her head. She turned to look back in the direction she had been gazing into before; Estelle sitting near the group's tents, in her usual graceful style.

Before, she had been reading a book Rita had got her the last time they visited Aspio, but now the book was closed and lying on her lap. The princess appeared to be observing something, and Rita followed the direction she was gazing in.

Not too far from the place Estelle was sitting in, the mage noticed Judith and Raven standing and supposedly talking. The old man was being lively as usual, arms swinging around and expression changing every two seconds.

Rita paid him no mind, but wondered what the two were talking about; Judy was facing away from her, so her actions were not much help. Rita decided it didn't really matter, and turned back to the pink-haired maiden.

The mage was very confused to find Estelle scrunching her brow, relaxing it again, once more scrunching and then to normal, but with a slightly unhappy expression. Rita couldn't begin to guess why she would do that, and left her post leaning against a tree to walk toward the princess.

At the last moment she dodged Repede who dashed past her, cursed after the dog and continued on to Estelle, who had noticed her approaching when she made a fuss about the dog.

Estelle smiled as Rita stopped right next to her. "Hi Rita!" she greeted before the mage could say anything. Rita had gotten used to the slightly older girl's constant cheerfulness and answered appropriately. "Hi, Estelle."

The mage took a pause and looked at the forest ground full of leaves. "Hey, what were you doing just now?" she then asked, straightforward. Estelle blinked. "Ah?"

Rita scratched her head. "You know, you were frowning just now. Is something wrong?"

The pink-haired princess tilted her head, and then her face lighted up.

"Oh, that! I was just watching Raven and Judith, and I noticed Raven winking at her… I wanted to try it too", she explained.

Rita was a little surprised. "You wanted to… wink? But why?"

Estelle smiled. "I… don't know. It just seemed fun, and I had never tried it… But it was really hard…" the princess said.

Rita gently snorted. "Yeah, you were just scrunching your both eyes." The mage sat down and Estelle moved her dresstails out of the way.

"I just couldn't get just one eye to close… Ah! You can do it, Rita?" Estelle shouted when Rita slowly closed just one of her eyes.

The pink-haired girl leaned forward and the mage felt her cheecks get slightly warm. "Ah, eh, yeah… I didn't really think it was anything special…" she stuttered as Estelle looked right into her eyes.

"Teach me, too!" the princess asked her. "Huh? I, I don't really know how…" Rita stammered in surprise, but the pleading look on Estelle's face was too much for her. "Gah! Alright, alright… Just don't blame me if it doesn't work."

Estelle leaned back a bit and sat straight as the mage wondered how such a thing could be taught.

"Blinking is one of those things you do instictively, and both eyes are linked in it, so it's perfectly natural to only get both closing at the same time. So instead of sending a signal to close both eyes, you'd need to send it for just one eye… Or maybe a closing signal for the other…? But I'm not sure those things can be just changed…" Rita blabbered as she thought on it.

The other girl waited patiently. "Maybe you could try closing both, and then opening just one eye?" "Oh, yes!"

Rita watched the pink-haired girl close her eyes and slowly open both, notice they were both open and try again several times.

Estelle scrunching her face in concentration, her expression getting slightly more frustrated each time… Rita found herself unable to look away. Estelle's delicate eyebrows, her honest eyes…

In her concentration, the princess didn't even notice Rita leaning forward before the mage gently touched her chin and neck.

At first, Estelle's eyes widened in mild surprise, but the she closed them and answered the shy kiss. Rita felt the soft lips on hers, and felt her cheeks get red.

Suddenly, they both heard some footsteps getting closer.

Rita immediately drew back, her face very close to the shade of her jacket. Estelle also sat back straight, not quite as embarrassed as Rita but rather chirpy, giggling a little and smiling at the mage, was looking at the ground as if an extremely interesting Blastia had just appeared there.

Soon, Judith appeared before the girls. "What's up?" she asked, as though she was expecting them to share some great secret.

"Nothing." "Practise", Rita and Estelle immediately answered. Judith looked at Rita, still insisting there was something on the ground, and Estelle who first looked at Rita, confused, and then turned to Judy when the Krityan spoke.

"Oh? What kind of practise?" she smirked, but Estelle was focused on the practise she'd been doing. "I was trying to learn to wink, but it's really hard… Do you have any advice, Judith?" the pink haired-girl innocently asked.

Judith tilted her head. "I really don't know… Isn't it one of those things that you either can do, or will never learn to do?" the Krityan cheerfully said, and winked.

"Ah! You can do it too…" Estelle yelled, and then pouted a little. "…are you sure? I'd really want to try it, too…"

"Don't worry about it, Estelle. It's not much use anyway." Judith cheered up the princess, and winked again as she added: "And you got Rita anyway."

The tall woman turned, and happily walked away as abruptly as she had shown up. Estelle watched her disappear into the thicket across the small clearing, and Rita snorted after her.

'Meddlesome Krityan…' the mage thought, and flinched when she felt something on her hand. Looking to her side, she saw Estelle's white-clad hand gently placed on hers.

"Thanks for trying anyway, Rita. About trying to teach me", the princess said, and Rita blushed a little. "…no problem." They sat still for a short while, Rita building up her courage.

Finally, she whispered three words to the person who meant more to her than anything else.

"…Anything for you."


End file.
